The Ethnicity of the Sea Peoples - RePub - Erasmus Universiteit ...

Fig. 17. Settlement of the Sea Peoples in the Levant and the remains
of the Egyptian sphere of influence (from Bietak 1993: 295,
Fig. 4).
After their settlement in Palestine, the Philistines rose
to a position of power in the region owing to their military
superiority over the local population, as exemplified by the
famous engagement between David and Goliath – which
the first mentioned miraculously won against all odds. This
military superiority of the Philistines was based on their
monopoly of iron production in the region as recorded by
the Bible. 391 In the end, however, they were outmatched
by a coalition between the Hebrews and the Phoenicians,
and became subject to a rapid process of assimilation.
There is little information about the Philistine language –
we only know that the cities of their pentapolis were
391 I Samuel 13, 19-23. For the distribution of iron objects in the
eastern Mediterranean largely neglecting Anatolia, see Buchholz
1999: 710-11, Abb. 109-10.
96
headed by a local magistrate called seren and that kba‘
was their word for “helmet”, which is usually compared to
Hittite kupa®i- for the same meaning392 – , whereas the
deities they are reported to have worshipped, Dagon, Astarte,
and Ba‘al Zebl, appear to be of a local Canaanite
nature. 393 What remains, apart from their characteristic
pottery, are only small hints to their Aegean origin: figurines
for house-cults as discovered in Asdod, recalling
Mycenaean counterparts (Fig. 18); 394 hearths as unearthed
in Ekron, reminiscent of Mycenaean and Cyprian examples;
395 chamber tombs at Tell Fara modelled after
Mycenaean prototypes (Fig. 19); 396 altars with horns of
consecration from Ekron, again, suggestive of the Minoan
type; 397 the headdress with which the Peleset are depicted
in the Egyptian memorial at Medinet Habu, which bears a
striking resemblance to that of glyph D 02 of the discus of
Phaistos, Crete; 398 royal names like Yamani “the Ionian”
for a king of Asdod399 and ’kyš, related to either Akhaios
or Ankhises, for a king of Ekron; 400 and, finally, the identification
of Gaza as Minoa, which is substantiated by evidence
from coins, and of its local god Marna (= Aramaic
“our Lord”) as Crete-born. 401
The question remains: is the Cretan origin of the Philistines
as related by the Bible historically valid? In order
392 Bonfante 1946: 258; Machinist 2000: 63-4.
393 Pauly-Wissowa Realencyclopädie, s.v. Philister; Barnett 1969:
17; Machinist 2000: 59-61; 64.
394 Barnett 1969: 17; Sandars 1980: 165, fig. 116 (with intermediary
form from Cyprus); cf. Noort 1994: 134-7.
395 Noort 1994: 146; for Cyprus, see Karageorghis 1992: 81 (new
element during Late Cypriote IIIC).
396 Waldbaum 1966.
397 Gitin 1993: 249-50; for Cyprus see Loulloupis 1973 and Karageorghis
1992: 81 (new element during Late Cypriote IIIC).
398 Reinach 1910; Hall 1926: 278; Gardiner 1947: 202; Bérard
1951: 138; Mertens 1960: 83; Redford 1992: 252. A representation
of the feathered headdress has recently been found on sherds
from Askelon, see Stager 1998: 164, ill. A, a reference I owe to
Romey 2003: 68.
399 Gitin, Dothan & Naveh 1997: 11; note with Weidner 1939:
932-3 that the ethnic Iaman “Ionian” on the basis of the onomastic
evidence may include reference to Lycians.
400 Gitin, Dothan & Naveh 1997: 11; Byrne 2002: 11-2.
401 Stephanos of Byzantion, Ethnica, s.v. Gaza; cf. Macalister
1913: 15; Gardiner 1947: 202; Pauly-Wissowa Realencyclopädie,
s.v. Philister; Strobel 1976: 160.